Luminous
by ec143810
Summary: In order to secure a future for mankind, Adam Jensen must investigate his own past. How much can he trust the people around him? Megan Reed, David Serif and Francis Pritchard are all keeping secrets from Adam but none of them may be as troubling as the one he's keeping from himself. (Post Serif ending)
1. Chapter 1

1

"Nearly forty eight hours after his followers launched a global cyber terrorism attack, William Taggart, founder of the disgraced anti-augmentation organization formerly known as Humanity Front, remains at large. U.N. Peacekeeping forces captured the Antarctic site known as Panchaea, hoping to find and arrest Taggart and his followers but no trace of Taggart has been found. Stay tuned to PICUS news for up to the minute coverage of the crisis at Panchaea."

Adam switched off the screen nonchalantly and tossed the remote back to the boss' desk. "The crisis is over," he said coolly, his eyes still focused on the blank screen. "I don't know why you're watching this shit, boss."

"Damn right it's over, Adam." Serif leaned forward in his chair, examining the baseball that sat there without picking it up. "Taggart's on the run, Tai Yong is in a panic, and best of all Serif Industries has nowhere to go but up."

"It's a lie," Adam said simply, though they both knew the comment was far more complex than any words could express. The lie was all Adam had thought about on the ride back to Detroit. After he'd worked so hard to uncover the truth, to find Megan and her team and lay everything bare, he'd just covered it up. In the moment, he chalked it all up to what was best for humanity. They weren't ready to hear the truth. Who would believe it anyway? As the helicopter got closer and closer to Detroit, though, Adam had become more and more uncomfortable with the decision he'd made. In the end, all he'd ever done was to restore the status quo. All he ever did was what David Serif paid him to do. That's what was making him so damn uncomfortable.

"A necessary lie." Sarif took up the baseball and tossed it into the air a few times before continuing. "You talk to Megan yet?"

Adam finally turned away from the screen to face his boss but made a special effort to keep his face and voice blank of expression. "No. I didn't know she was here."

"Where else would she be? I figured it's best for her to lay low until all the heat dies down a little. The city's still torn apart thanks to those damn riots and communications are haywire right now. Homeland wants her, Jenson, and you, too. I've called in every favor I had to keep them off your backs for now. You two have been through enough."

"Why wait? We'll have to talk to them eventually."

"Adam…" Serif absentmindedly let the baseball slip out from between his fingers and crash to his desk. He sighed as he rearranged everything. "I just want to make sure we're on the same page here. What happened at Panchaea…No one needs to know. The more people know about it, the more confused they're going to be and confused people make mistakes, mistakes like blaming this company, you or me for what happened. Are you with me?"

Adam stared at Sarif, watched the monitors in his retinal implants register Sarif's increased heart rate and respiration. Nerves. He was afraid Adam would go public with what he knew. Even after all that, didn't Sarif trust him? "Yeah, boss," he said and averted his eyes. "I'm with you."

"Good. Now, what did you want to see me about, Adam?" Adam reached into the pocket of his trenchcoat and produced a datachip that he handed to Sarif. "What's this?"

"My resignation."

"Resignation?" Sarif turned the chip upside down and in a circle, as if moving it around would tell him more. "Adam, don't be ridiculous. You can't quit."

"Why not?" Adam had been afraid of how Sarif would react. Maybe it was a little selfish of him to turn in his resignation now, just when the company was starting to take off in a whole new direction. Maybe it was wrong. But after Panchaea, he couldn't go on pretending that everything David Sarif did was saintly and he certainly didn't know if he was ready to sit behind a desk ever again, not after what he'd seen. He couldn't tell Sarif all that. It just wasn't in Sarif's nature to understand.

"Because…" Sarif trailed off and then stood. "Look, Adam, why don't you just take some leave time. I know I pulled you back a little early. I know this has been hard and maybe things won't ever be exactly the way they were six months ago but...I mean, Christ, Adam. We're like family. We just got Megan back. Don't run off on me now. Serif Industries is at the top of its game! I need men I can trust running things downstairs but I need you at the top of your game. Take some time off, as much as you want." Sarif snapped the chip in half with his fingers. "But, dammit, don't you quit on me." There was unexpected hurt in the boss' voice as he threw the broken chip into the wastebasket. A part of Adam wanted to believe Sarif was upset about more than just losing one of the most expensive investments he'd ever made but he was skeptical. David Sarif was an egoist, a good man, but an egoist.

Adam crossed his arms. He didn't think any amount of time off was going to fix his moral apprehension. Adam fully expected that a few weeks into his leave, Sarif would discover his company ran just fine without Adam Jenson there to monitor a security terminal all day. "Whatever you say, boss."

"Good. Now go home and get some rest. God knows, you've earned it."

Adam left the office and punched the lobby button on the elevator feeling heavy. It was a common feeling, the LIMB doctors assured him, and it would pass with time. The headaches, nerve pain and nightmares were apparently normal, too, all symptoms of his brain meshing flawlessly with the technology that saved his life. He'd never asked for it, never wanted it, and yet he wasn't sure he would have turned down the prostheses if Sarif had bothered to ask. He probably wouldn't have opted for all the upgrades, that was for sure.

The elevator stopped on the second floor. Adam almost stepped out when he saw Megan waiting to get on. She looked like she hadn't slept in weeks, though, and he knew better than anyone that she'd been through hell recently, even if it was a hell of her own making. So, when the doors started to close before she stepped on, Adam reached out and held the door for her. Megan didn't even thank him, she just stepped on and stood as far away from him as possible. When the door closed on them, the air in the elevator grew almost too thick to breathe. Adam cleared his throat. He couldn't stand the silence, not when there was so much left to say. He still needed to ask her how far back the betrayal went, why she never told him she was using his DNA, why she didn't put up more resistance against the Illuminati, why she couldn't somehow get a message to him… But when he opened his mouth, all he could ask her was, "Which floor?"

"Lobby," she answered without looking at him.

There was silence for a moment before Adam tried again to get one of those important questions out, failing miserably. "You talk to your mother?"

"Not yet."

That piqued his curiosity. Cassandra would no doubt want to know that her daughter was still alive and well. If it had been him coming back from the dead, his grieving mother would probably be the first person he'd call if she were still alive. "She should know, Megan."

"Know what? That her daughter willingly assisted in the worst terrorist attacks in history? Or should I tell her the truth, Jenson?" He could feel Megan looking at him. "Hell, I don't even know if I know what the truth is anymore."

The elevator doors slid open and Megan stepped hurriedly out. Adam followed. "Where are you going," he called after Megan but she didn't stop for him. She just barged through the front doors and he went charging after her. "Megan!"

Adam pushed through the doors and out into the cool Detroit night air. There was a crowd on the front steps, reporters, mostly, swarming Megan. She was trying desperately to fight through them without much luck. Instinct kicked in and Adam surged forward, using his augmented arms to push the ravenous crowd of microphones back from her. The sudden movement knocked Megan down onto the pavement. He shoved one overly aggressive microphone out of his face and sent it rolling down the stairs. "This is private property," he shouted at them. "Which means you're all trespassing. Now beat it!" Slowly, and not without the flashing of cameras and the shouting of accusations and questions, the mob dispersed. Adam offered Megan a hand up. She stared at it, eyes wide, gaze somewhere far away, maybe remembering the night it all happened. Six months seemed like such a long time ago. It could have been another life, they could have been other people. After Omega Ranch, maybe she didn't even want to touch him. Maybe, she didn't want anything at all to do with him now, a lifetime later. Then, Adam's neural hubs registered the change in pressure as her hand slipped into his.

He pulled her up. "Now, Dr. Reed, where were you off to in such a hurry you didn't have time to listen to me warn you about the throng of reporters waiting for you?" She turned her head away and didn't answer him. "You do have somewhere to go, don't you, Megan?"

"I guess I don't know. I mean, I'm sure they rented my apartment by now. I'd go to mother's but I'm afraid I'd scare her. And what if those Homeland Security assholes show up? I don't know if her heart could take it. I thought…I thought, maybe if I could just get some air…"

"Megan…"

"I was locked up for so long, I didn't even remember what the city looked like, smelled like…"

Adam sighed and wished the reporters would stop taking pictures of them together. They'd almost certainly misinterpret everything he said and did. He leaned in closer to her and put his back to the reporters to try and keep them from recording him. "Megan, if you need a place to stay that isn't the basement of Serif Industries, all you have to do is ask." _What are you doing, moron, his brain was saying. This isn't the same Megan you knew six months ago. This is the woman who helped engineer a biochip that turned every augmented human in the world into a mindless attack zombie. This is the woman who stole your DNA and nearly cost you your life…and you're going to invite her to your apartment?_

"I…I thought you were angry with me, Adam."

"I am," Adam said, finally letting go of her hand. "But I'm not going to let you freeze on the street, not after all the trouble I went through to get you out. I'm offering you the sofa. You want it or not?"

"Yes, Adam," she said quietly. "I want it."


	2. Chapter 2

2

Adam gathered up another stack of schematics and tried to pile them neatly on the floor. His apartment was a mess, and not because he'd been away from home too long. Because he hadn't cared enough to clean it up. Even when he had the time, all he wanted to do was work and when he was at work…It was always easier to just focus on work.

He glanced up into the kitchen where Megan was rummaging around, probably rearranging everything. "How do you live on this stuff? Ramen and cereal? Really, Adam? When was the last time you had a decent meal?"

"Does takeout Chinese count?" Adam lifted up one of the cushions and pulled out a stack of paper magazines to toss aside and then thought better of leaving this particular stack out in the open. Instead, he carried them into the bedroom and dumped them beside the bed. Just looking at the bed made him realize how exhausted he was. There was an ache in his shoulders that seemed to stretch down into his arm, even though he wasn't sure the sensation that registered was true pain. It might just be phantom pain or all in his head.

After dropping the magazines, Adam went into the bathroom, deactivated his shades and stared at himself, good and hard, in the cracked glass of his mirror. He hated how he looked now. Not that he'd ever been particularly fond of his long, thin face and flat, roman nose but now, whenever he saw his own reflection, he barely recognized it. The doctors had shown him diagram after diagram, pointing out extensively which parts were man and which were machine. These last few weeks, he'd felt more machine than man. He needed to sleep, to eat something, to get shit faced and forget for just a minute how screwed up this whole situation was. Not that he'd be able to do it now, not with Megan there. The last thing he needed was to do something he'd regret in front of her.

"Adam…?" He turned away from the mirror. Megan was standing in the doorway, pale faced, a data screen in her hands. "My God, I didn't realize…You were dead."

"Technically speaking." The data screen was probably just his discharge instructions: the proper application of the Praxis kits, who to call if he felt any pain or rejection symptoms, various diagnoses and prognoses…Medical mumbo jumbo that he never cared to read or decipher. Somehow, Megan had always been good at finding every little thing he wanted to throw away.

"Did it hurt?"

"Which part? Being thrown through bullet proof glass? Splashed with acid? Shot in the head?" She lowered the tablet. He was being too harsh, maybe, but Megan would do the same to him, given the chance. She'd already done worse.

"I know there's nothing I can say that will convince you, Adam, but I am sorry about what happened to you. I didn't have a choice. Those guards would have killed everyone at Serif if I didn't go with them. You saw-"

"You sure you didn't just do it to see your research through? It's always been about the research, hasn't it, Dr. Reed? This business with the Illuminati, my job at Serif, us…It was all just a convenient way for you to get access to my DNA. "

He let her slap him, if for no other reason than the hope that the sting would remind his shoulder what real pain felt like. Three years, that anger had been brewing under her skin, just waiting for the chance to come out and hit him. Megan hadn't dealt with their break up as well as he had. She'd always wanted to hang on. He thought maybe after she finished her graduate work, she'd settle down and they could give it another try. Now, he knew the only reason she'd been so upset about breaking it off was because she'd have to find another lab rat.

As soon as she hit him, her eyes teared up. "God damn you, Adam."

"I don't believe in God," Adam said coldly and pushed past her.

He was in the kitchen, pouring himself a drink when he felt a buzz in his ear. "Jensen? It's Pritchard." God, that was the last person he wanted to hear from right then. Every time he heard that little weasel in his head, he wished the boss had sprung for a mute button.

"What is it, Francis?"

"I heard you turned in a resignation. Is it true?"

"Sarif refused it. Besides, Francis, you're not qualified to do my job." Adam took both the glass and the bottle down to the sofa, making a mental note that Megan still hadn't come out of the bedroom.

"I wouldn't do your job for twice your salary. Is Dr. Reed with you?"

He plopped down on the sofa, placed the glass on the table in front of him and opted for the bottle. "Where's this going, Pritchard?"

"Do you remember that security detail you had me assign to the apartment of a Michelle Walthers?" Adam rubbed his forehead. How could he forget? Until the day he talked to Ms. Walthers, he'd believed at least that his childhood had been normal. She was a nice lady and he was glad she told him the truth about where he came from and why his DNA was so different but, honestly, he would have died happy if he'd never thought of her again. Her story about how he'd been raised in a secret science facility and then found himself rescued from his intended purpose by a timely fire had always seemed a little too hard to swallow. It was even less likely now that he knew just how much power the Illuminati had. Adam just couldn't believe something as simple as a fire would have allowed someone like Walthers to smuggle him out of the facility, especially if she'd lived to tell about it. "The detail just checked in. Ms. Walthers is dead."

"Dead? How?"

"Single gunshot to the temple with powder burns on her knuckles. She shot herself, Jensen." Adam took another long drink from the bottle, wishing he'd kept the photographs he d given her, wishing he'd gone back to ask her more questions. His past seemed small and insignificant at the time. Now, it ballooned up and become everything, blocking any and every path forward except for the one chosen by people like Megan. "Jensen?"

"I'm heard, Pritchard. They need someone to I.D. the body?"

"I…I suppose so. Is everything alright there, Jensen? You're not your usual sarcastic self."

"I'll go down to the precinct in the morning and take care of it. Jensen out." He broke the connection and lit up a cigarette. _Suicide…_Walthers didn't strike him as the type. Maybe it was just his cop's intuition kicking in but he had a bad feeling about the way she died. _I should have done more to protect her_, he thought, watching the glowing embers of his cigarette turn to ash. _I should have known they'd get to her. Hell, maybe they even found her because of me._ He cast a sideways glance back at the bedroom where Megan was still brooding, no doubt. _I guess Namir was right. Men like us, we never get back the things we love. _

Adam stood and walked slowly to the bedroom doorway, his mechanical knees complaining at the effort of being so overused recently. He put his forearm up and leaned on it while he took another drag on the cigarette. Despite only being offered the couch, Megan had curled up in his bed. She slept like she always did when she slept alone, the corner of the blanket wadded up and tucked under her head, clutching a pillow against her chest. His retinal scanners registered the slow, steady breaths of sleep. He stood there, watching her sleep, flooding his lungs with the smoke, remembering everything they used to have. Once, he'd dreamed of a normal life with her. A house, a dog…kids. Megan's research would always be her baby and, because he couldn't share in that, she shut him out. At least, that's what he'd believed. Now, he wasn't so sure. Which came first, he wondered, their relationship or the betrayal? Did she ever care about him the way he cared about her or was it all just a cover up? Whichever it was, breaking things off with her had been his decision. He'd done because, even when they were still together, too many nights ended like this one, with her dreaming of major scientific breakthroughs thanks to her research and him wishing she could stay awake long enough to talk about something else, anything else, beyond peptides and PEDOT clusters.

Adam walked back to the sofa and stretched out on it after putting out his cigarette. He was too tired to bother waking her to discuss the sleeping arrangement and he was comfortable just letting things go on the way they were, at least until morning.


	3. Chapter 3

3

Adam jerked awake from another nightmare, crying out and clutching his augmented arm. Before he even had time to process the dream, however, he found himself face to face with the barrel of three combat rifles. The men behind them, their uniforms marked them as Belltower. "Good morning, Mr. Jensen," said a smug woman's voice in a heavy Middle Eastern accent.

"What the hell is this?" He tried to sit up further to get a better look around him but the guns in his face pressed him back down. "Where's Megan?"

"She's well," said the woman stepping forward. She was tall for a woman, dressed in a skin tight, revealing black dress, her hair pulled into a tight bun at the back of her head. Right away, Jeneson noticed the nodes up and down her cheekbones amidst minor scarring and pegged her for an augmented woman. "And she'll stay that way as long as you cooperate."

She waved her Belltower thugs aside and stepped bravely up to him. If he'd been so inclined, he could have killed her right then and there. He might have even been able to take out the two Belltower goons, as well, but he didn't know how many others there were and he wasn't going to risk Megan's safety to find out. "What do you want?"

She drew her lips up into a smile and held her hand out over the sofa. One of her guards produced a syringe with an uncomfortably long needle attached to it and two vials. "Hold still, Mr. Jensen." He winced slightly when the needle went into his shoulder but he never broke eye contact with the woman. This woman, whoever she was, was clearly enjoying her task. The look on her face reminded him of Zhao's expression the moment she slid into her panic room, victorious. The needle hurt worse coming out than going in. The woman handed off the tubes and the syringe and stood there, watching the blood pool on his shoulder. "Don't look so angry, Mr. Jensen." She traced her fingers down his jaw, his neck and then pushed her fingers firmly to the wound. "We all knew this day was coming."

"And what day is that?"

"The day you were made for." She withdrew her fingers and placed them both in her mouth, gently sucking his blood from them. "White Helix thanks you for your cooperation," she said and then turned as one of her men approached.

"What do we do with the woman, Ariadne," the Belltower soldier asked.

"Dr. Reed has become a liability. Kill her."

Adam bolted up and caught the first two guards by surprise, slamming their heads together with an audible crack. Two more by the door opened fire on him so he dove behind the sofa, cursing himself for not falling asleep next to his gun. Megan being there had made him let down his guard. He activated his cloaking device and quickly closed the distance, taking the last two guards down with the lethal force of the nanoceramic blades in his arms. He turned around to deal with Ariadne just in time to see her step backward out his front door. He glanced into the bedroom to see Megan struggling against the plastic zip ties around her wrists and ankles and working the gag in her mouth free. "Mr. Jensen…It was an honor." Ariadne tossed two armed grenades into the apartment as the door slid shut. The security system initiated a lockdown sequence.

Adam watched the grenades bounce down the stairs and land right next to him. He cursed loudly and jumped into the bedroom, landing on top of Megan just in time to shield her from the blast. The pain wasn't as bad as he expected but it was there. The heat of the blast washed over him, just barely hot enough to singe the skin at that distance. The wall took most of the shrapnel, though some did wedge into the augmented portions of his legs, halfway up the shin. The worst part was the temporary deafness. He could see Megan's lips moving long before he ever heard her. "Adam! Dammit, Adam, say something!" He realized suddenly that she was trying to push him off of her. He tried to move but everything was still rebooting so nothing responded the way it was supposed to. When his systems finally came back up, he rolled away and found the room aflame around them. The sprinkler system kicked on suddenly. "You're bleeding…"

"They took my blood, Megan. White Helix…"

"Your blood?" He turned back to her confused expression. "Why…?"

"You tell me, Megan. It's time to come clean. What do you know about me, about White Helix, about the Illuminati…everything."

"What makes you think I know anything about any of that, Adam?"

Adam jumped to his feet, ignoring the warning flashes of pain and paced back and forth in the indoor rain. "Because wherever I go, I hear these things, I see you, hear your name. How am I supposed to not believe it's all connected?"

Megan sat up with her back to him. "You think I'm a part of this grand, global conspiracy? Well I'm not. I don't know any more about it than you do." She stood and tried to walk away but Adam grabbed her by the arm. He must have clenched tighter than he meant to because she cried out when he pulled her back. He released her but not before she hit him again. This time, she didn't cry or curse at him. Megan reached up after a moment of hesitation and touched the red spot she'd left on his cheek. "Why is it so hard for you to believe me? I never meant to hurt you, Adam. I…I cared about you once. Everything I did for you, I did to secure a future for you, for us. But all that's in the past now. I paid for my mistakes for six months. I swear to you, Adam, I don't know any more about White Helix or the Illuminati than you do."

Adam reached up and pried her fingers away from his face. "But you know more about me. I need to know what you know because these people, the Illuminati, they're going to keep coming after me and everyone around me until they get what they want. You want to secure a future for me, Megan? Help me understand my past."

Slowly, she nodded. "Alright, Adam. You win…but not here. This location isn't safe."

"Sarif, then."

Megan averted her eyes. "Sarif isn't safe, either. Give me some time to get the documents together-"

"You're not pulling that trick on me again, Megan. I just got you back. I'm not letting you out of my sight until I get some answers. Now, you tell me when and where you're willing to give them up and we'll go straight there. After that, you're free to do whatever you want."

"My mother's house. I'm sure it's not bugged."

Adam limped to the door and deactivated the security system with Megan by his side. "I'm sure Cassandra will be overjoyed to have you back, Megan," he said as they got into the elevator.

"Adam, there's something else I wanted to say, something that doesn't have to wait until we meet my mother." His retinal implants read her intentions before she acted so that when she leaned in to kiss him, he just turned his head away. Her head fell on his shoulder instead. "I just want everything to go back the way it was. Can't we do that, Adam? Can't we start over?"

Asking him that now was like asking her to forego her doctoral degree or him to give up his augmentations. But there was no going back. There was only forward.


	4. Chapter 4

4

Adam rang the doorbell while Megan waited out of sight around the corner, tugging nervously on her coat. They were both soaking wet and chilled to the bone from the long walk to the subway line and waiting out in the cold for a cab. Cassandra lived on the outskirts of Detroit in a nice two story turn of the century home, far from the noise of downtown. Even this far from the riots, though, the exterior of her home hadn't escaped the anti-augmentation graffiti that was scattered everywhere. Someone had scribbled it all over the side of the house. He rang the doorbell again and listened to three locks unclick before the door opened just a few inches and Cassandra's face peeked out. "Adam?"

"Good morning, Mrs. Reed."

Cassandra unchained the door and threw it open. "What happened to you? You look half frozen!"

"Mrs. Reed, I have something to tell you. It's about Megan."

He watched as her face turned two shades paler. "You found something, something else about her case?"

"Not exactly."

Megan stepped out from her hiding place and Cassandra let out a cry, her fingers trembling toward her mouth. Megan tried to fix her hair. "Hi, mom."

"Megan? Is that…?" She turned to Adam. "Is it?"

"I'm the real thing," Megan said stepping up onto the porch. Cassandra shrank back slightly. She was still in shock.

"Mrs. Reed, Megan wasn't killed in the attack six months ago. She was kidnapped and her GPL signal was switched to a lower frequency to prevent the authorities and Serif industries from investigating. You were right. Someone in Homeland Security did bury her case. They didn't want Megan found."

Cassandra wasn't listening. She was reaching out for her daughter. The two of them fell into a tearful embrace. Adam turned away from the uncomfortable display. He almost wished they hadn't come there. It was possible that White Helix was tracking them and that their coming here meant Cassandra was in danger. But if it meant finally getting the truth out of Megan, he was willing to do almost anything.

When Cassandra and Megan finally parted, both of them wiping tears from their eyes, Cassandra said, "Thank you for bringing her back to me, Adam. Is there anything I can do to repay you?"

"Well," Adam started. "I could use a hot shower and some dry clothes."

"There was some damage to his apartment," Megan explained. "Mom, Adam needs somewhere to stay until the repairs are made."

"Of course, Adam. You know you're always welcome here. Come inside. Make yourself at home. I'll get some coffee on."

"Thank you, Mrs. Reed."

She waved her hands in dismissal as she ushered them inside. "Think nothing of it. And please, call me Cassandra."

The inside of the house immediately brought back memories. The last time he'd been there, he and Megan were still together. He remembered standing there in the living room at the Reed's Christmas party, kissing her under the mistletoe, the backyard barbecues, the laughter, the smiles. All of it was lost to him now. Cassandra made a bee line for the kitchen and shouted at them, "Go on and make yourself at home. You know where everything is, Adam." He exchanged a quick glance with Megan before limping up the stairs.

In the bathroom, he managed to dislodge three bits of shrapnel from his legs and clean off all the blood in the shower. He found some antibiotic ointment in the medicine cabinet and applied it to the worst of his cuts and scrapes before Megan knocked on the door. "I've got some of my dad's old clothes." Adam wrapped a towel around his waist and opened the door for her, barely even thinking about it. In the years they were together, she'd seen him naked hundreds of times. He didn't even think about how much different he would look to her now, how much of a shock it actually was. In the six months he'd been wearing his augmentations, he'd already gotten used to seeing them attached to his body. When Megan saw him, though, she gasped, stared and then quickly recovered. "You scared me," she said holding out a pair of sweatpants he just knew were going to be too short for him.

"Sorry." He grabbed them from her and quickly slammed the door shut. He hated it when people reacted that way, seeing the machine first. He guessed it was hard not to, especially when the augmentations Serif chose for him weren't exactly flesh colored. They were a prominent black, with conspicuous nodes all over his skin. Everyone was right. He was a hard guy to miss.

When he opened the door back up, Megan was standing there again, this time with two steaming cups of coffee, one of which she handed to him. "Mom stepped out to get a few things for dinner," she explained and then moved down the hall to the guest bedroom. Adam followed her. The room was saturated with orange and brown. It was on the wall, the comforter, the floor… A poster of the periodic table of elements hung on the wall next to a quote from Descartes: All things are self-evident. "She didn't touch anything," Megan mused going to her drawers and searching haphazardly through them. "You remember the first time we were up here?" She lifted an old photo of them together out of the drawer and stared at it.

Adam cleared his throat and tried not to. Megan was going to try and distract him from getting the information he needed. He set his coffee down, untouched, on the dresser next to hers. "Megan…"

"We were just kids then, I guess. Kids out to change the world. Hard to remember that feeling now."

"What feeling?"

"Like you're standing on the edge of an open abyss, arms outstretched, reaching for something on the other side, something you know you'll never reach. But that doesn't keep you from trying." She cast the photo back down into the drawer. "It only makes the fall harder, I guess."

"Was it like that from the start," he asked her as she fidgeted with her hands.

"God, you get right to the point, don't you, Adam?"

"Answer the question, Megan. How much did you know about me before we met? Who directed you to me?"

"No one." Her heart rate was elevated but that wasn't a change. She'd been nervous ever since they stepped into the room together. "In the beginning, it was never about the research. I didn't find out anything about you until later, when things started to get much more…serious."

"Serious?" Adam took up the coffee and stared into it before taking a swallow. It was hot and bitter but it would do. "You mean when you went to work for Serif."

"I mean when you started talking about getting married, having kids." Megan played with the bracelet on her wrist, unable or unwilling to meet his gaze. "I'm a scientist, Adam, with access to some of the most advanced genetic testing available. I…I was curious. And when you started talking about kids, I felt like I needed to know."

"You expect me to believe that you took a sample of my DNA into a secure lab to test for genetic abnormalities because you wanted to scan for genetic disorders? That's bullshit, Megan, and you know it." He closed in the distance between them, moving until he was standing over her. "Admit it. You were looking for a breakthrough, something that would propel your career forward but you didn't have it. So, you used me. I just want to know how you found out. Were you in contact with Darrow? Taggart? Did Sarif know?"

"None of that, Adam!" She jumped up and stood toe to toe with him, anger blazing in her hazel eyes. "You're right, OK? I was desperate to produce something big. Sarif was breathing down my neck for results. The whole world was watching me and while I was battling migraines from racking my brain, you were busy planning my life for me. Yes, Adam, I used you. I was angry. I was tired. I was wrong." Her eyes fell away from his face and moved down to the mechanical arms hanging at his side. "When I sequenced your DNA, I never expected to find a match in a dead database. That's how I found out about White Helix, about what they'd done to you, your parents… Everything."

She touched his arm. A visual alarm triggered, alerting him to the local activation of a CASIE implant and the release of pheromones. Adam grabbed her upper arm firmly. "That's not going to help you, Megan. I can detect the activation of your implants. You'll have to work harder if you want to manipulate me."

"I don't want to manipulate you, Adam. I never meant to. I was just under so much pressure…You've got to know what that's like. You must've felt it in Panchaea."

She had a point. In Panchaea, he decided the future of all mankind with the push of a button. Lies. The future he chose was a future built on lies. If he'd thought it through a little more, maybe he would have decided on something different. Maybe Megan would have done things differently if Sarif hadn't been pressing her so hard. None of that excused what she did completely but at least now he could sympathize. "So, if White Helix had my DNA sequenced in a database, why would they want two vials of my blood? And why would they break into my apartment to get it?"

"They'd need active samples if they wanted to recreate their results. I assume that's what they're after."

Adam leaned against the wall and took another swallow of his coffee. "I don't understand. Why would they want to make people immune to Neuropozyne? White Helix is associated with VersaLife. Why make their own drug obsolete?"

"I don't know, Adam."

Adam rubbed his chin in thought. In the last few months, he'd unraveled a lot of mysteries but this one really had him stumped. There had to be something else Megan wasn't telling him but she wasn't going to open up any further, not unless she could get her guard down. If he knew Megan, that was going to be a difficult, time consuming task in itself.

"Adam?" He gave her a grunt in response. His mind was too busy trying to deconstruct everything and trying to ignore all his own CASIE sensors, advising him on Megan's attitude. The woman seemed to shift with the wind. "I…In the elevator…" She stood, touched the augments beside his eyes. He let her. There weren't many directions this could go now. There was his way, where he walked away right now and went to the precinct to claim a corpse. He could get leads there. There was no doubt in his mind that Ms. Walthers suicide was connected to the attack on his apartment. Those leads would be easy to follow but also make him an easier target to track. He'd also be leaving Megan and Cassandra vulnerable to attack, something that didn't sit well with him.

The other option was Megan's way; let her manipulate him one more time, if for no other reason than to feel wanted for something other than his damn augmentations. But he could never trust Megan so whatever happened would only be physical and he wasn't sure he was ready to go there just yet, especially with her. Of course, there were benefits to letting Megan get her way. Even if he never fully trusted her, she might begin to trust him and he could turn that trust against her to find out what she was hiding. All of that was contingent on him and his augments correctly guessing at Megan's motives. She still thought she could divert his interest using sex. Before, it might have worked. Now…the distraction would be temporary. He needed only to look in the mirror to be reminded why he had to keep pushing her away.

Her fingers traced his jaw and down his neck. He flinched slightly when she touched the first of the nodes on his chest, not because it hurt but because he wasn't prepared for the way the augments registered a pressure change. "I thought I lost you that day. Living with that guilt, it's been murder, Adam. You have no idea how much I wanted to tell you and just…couldn't. You deserved to know. God knows, you didn't deserve this."

Her hand moved to his arm, touching it hesitantly. He wondered if she thought he looked like some kind of monster now, if she was afraid to touch him and feel nothing there. Nano processers in his arms activated and warmed to her touch in a sorry attempt to simulate human flesh. The same processors flooded his brain with information about how she felt…soft, fragile, temperature slightly above normal…They were just words and numbers to him. They meant nothing. Maybe that would make what followed a little easier. So, he fell into the old dance and pulled her lips to his. That was all it took. Three years of anger redirected into hungry hands searching for answers against fragile flesh and muffled growls of anticipation. It was awkward at first, with the augments, just trying not to crush her arm when he moved it or snap vertebrae when he twisted her head to the side to kiss on her neck, but Adam was sure he could manage. After all, only his appendages and part of his pectorals were augmented. He was still Adam Jensen where it counted.

About the time he got the hang of holding her against him without cutting off all her air, the communicator in his ear buzzed. "Not now, Pritchard," he managed with Megan's hands down in his borrowed sweatpants.

"Have I caught you at a bad time, Mr. Jensen?"

Adam relaxed his grip on Megan. "Taggart? How the hell did you get this frequency?"

"How isn't important. It's the why you should be concerned with. I have a proposition for you, Jensen."

"Why would I listen to anything you say?" Adam peeled Megan's hands away and turned his back to her.

"Because you and I both know there are bigger fish to catch in this ocean of conspiracy theories. And I can ensure you catch them but only if you're willing to help me."

"The Illuminati," Adam growled. "Do you know what they have to do with White Helix?"

"I know many things, Jensen, but I'm not inclined to discuss them on such an insecure broadcast frequency. Come to Hengsha and visit an old friend for a drink."

The transmission cut out into noisy static after that. Adam cursed and turned back to Megan who was sitting on the bed now with her arms crossed. The thought briefly occurred to him that he had become her, so obsessed with his work that he couldn't even see Megan beyond whatever uses she posed for him. It passed quickly. He wasn't like her but he still needed to placate her if things were ever going to get better. Everything was so damn complicated. "Megan…"

"Duty calls," she said stiffly. "Go on, Adam. Do what you have to. We both know Taggart's offer isn't going to be good forever."

Adam took another quick drink of the coffee and sat down next to Megan. "Taggart can wait," he said kissing her again. "Hengsha isn't going anywhere."


	5. Chapter 5

5

Dinner was even more awkward. Adam felt like neither Cassandra nor Megan could stop staring at him. He couldn't wait until his clothes were out of the dryer so he could cover up again. He felt guilty, too, about using Megan. He should have stopped things before they went too far. Now, she was going to think they were an item again. He thought he'd buried all those feelings or burned through them. Being with Megan again like that, it just made them all surface again.

Cassandra cleared her throat as she wiped her mouth with a napkin. "So, Megan tells me you might be leaving Sarif Industries?"

"I don't know what I'm going to do yet. David Serif put a lot of money into rebuilding me, pretty much from the ground up. It's not like I can just walk away."

"No, I don't imagine so." She took a sip of water. "Mr. Serif has quite a set of augmentations himself, or so I'm told. Are they as extensive as yours, Adam?"

"No. I don't think there's anyone out there built quite like me, Cassandra. I hope there never is." He thought of Namir and the fine line between human and machine. Had he crossed it? Was Namir even in that thing he took down at Tai Yong or had he already been dead for a long time?

"So, then, how extensive is the damage to your apartment, Adam? Do you suppose it will be fixed within the week? Because I'd hate for you to sleep on the sofa for a whole week. I feel awful about it. Maybe I can put you up in a hotel…and Megan, too, if you want."

"Mother…" Megan grumbled under her breath.

"Oh please. I may be old but I'm not deaf and blind. I could barely concentrate on making my meatloaf with all the ruckus upstairs. How is it by the way?"

"It's fine, Mrs. Reed." Megan's cheeks were bright red and Adam wasn't sure he was faring much better. He was starting to think the precinct could use someone like Cassandra. They'd get a lot more confessions, at least.

Cassandra took up the bowl of mashed potatoes and scooped more onto Adam's plate without asking him. "I'm just glad you two have finally worked things out. You only live once and with all the rioting madness in the world today, it's good to know not everyone wants to kill each other."

Adam exchanged glances with Megan. "Speaking of riots, Mrs. Reed…"

"Cassandra, please, Adam."

"…Cassandra. Speaking of riots, and to answer your question, no. I won't be staying long. I have to go away on business."

She looked up from cutting her meat and watched Adam from over the rims of her glasses. "Business? I thought you were taking some much needed time off?"

"Just tying up loose ends, is all." He pushed his fork into the potatoes and pushed them around the plate. Adam was starving and he was sure they were better than ramen cups but he couldn't bring himself to eat everything Cassandra served him. It was just too much.

"You're going with him," Cassandra said to her daughter. It was phrased as more of a statement than a question.

Megan opened her mouth to reply but Adam interrupted before she could. "No, Cassandra. I work alone. Besides, Megan, you just got your life back. I can't ask you to risk it again. Hengsha got the worst of the riots and the place isn't going to be safe for quite some time. It'll be easier for me to move in and out alone." He didn't fail to notice Megan's elevated heart rate and blood pressure at his announcement. She'd fully expected to go with him and he'd fully expected to take her until just a few hours ago. But he couldn't go through with it, this idea of his to convince Megan to give up what she knew by manipulating her feelings. It was going to wind up hurting him almost as much as it hurt her, if not more. Besides, if he had to go deep into the Hengsha underground to find his answers and infiltrate White Helix headquarters itself, he'd only be putting her in danger.

Cassandra let out the breath she'd been holding. "Well, that is a relief. When will you be leaving, Adam?"

"Tonight," he announced. "After dinner." He changed the subject after that, asking Cassandra about the meal which eventually led to a conversation about some kind of chemical reaction that Adam couldn't follow. He could hack a computer better than the next guy but when it came to chemistry he was as lost as a Belltower guard chasing ghosts. Afterward, he helped Cassandra with the dishes, managing to get by only shattering two plates and one glass before helping her move some furniture in the living room. He'd gotten a lot better controlling the strength of his augs since the early days.

When there was nothing left for him to do, Adam met Megan on the front porch, sitting in the swing and staring out at the Detroit skyline in the distance. "I was thinking of something, Adam. About you."

"What about?"

"Your parents supposedly worked for White Helix as scientists before they set fire to the place and convinced your nurse to save you. While I was working at the Omega Ranch facility, I had top level clearance. I saw their autopsy reports, Adam. The bodies were burned almost to the point of being unidentifiable. And the medical examiner? Homeland Defense flew him in from D.C. to relieve the local M.E."

Adam leaned against one of the porch columns. So this was the information she was holding onto. "Just like your case. There'll be no blaming this one on the Humanity Front if things go sour."

"I'm saying there's a chance your parents are still out there and they might not be the people you think they are. You might find some things out there that were better left unknown. Are you sure this is what you want?"

"Megan, I've got to do this. If I don't, more people are going to die. I'll go straight to the top of the Illuminati if I have to. None of you are going to be safe until this is over and done with. Serif didn't enhance me so I could sit by while the world went to hell, directed there by some secret club of corporate billionaires. The Hugh Darrows of the world shouldn't be the ones deciding who lives and who dies." Megan stood and walked slowly over to stand with him. In the sky, corporate helicopters swam back and forth in a sea of light while they tried to imagine the tiny, sparkling glimpses beyond were stars and not satellites. Adam looked down at his ugly, black, mechanized hands. "Listen, Megan, I'm probably going to be gone a long time. I can't come back without answers. If something happens while I'm gone, don't take any chances. You get your mom and you run like hell. Understand?"

"Don't worry about us, Adam. Don't even think of us while you're gone. Think of yourself, your future. You've earned it."

Sitting aboard the passenger plane to Hengsha and staring at the in flight menu, all Adam could even try to think about was all the lost time he was going to have to make up for when he got back to her. They'd both been dead for six whole months.


	6. Chapter 6

6

The Hive was the same expensive dump it always was, crawling with Tong's Harvesters and working girls that didn't speak a word of English. Adam had been sitting at the bar, nursing one of Bobby Bao's famous Shanghai Gut Punches for near half the night. He was beginning to wonder if he'd missed something in Taggart's communication. It seemed to him that Taggart was a pretty subtle guy who seemed particularly bad at cloak and dagger games. It probably wouldn't be long before the UN caught up with him and he disappeared. Adam hoped he wasn't already too late.

Adam finished off the drink and tapped Bobby on the shoulder to order another. "No more drink for you, Laowai. Tong see you in office. Now."

"I'm not here to see Tong," Adam growled back. He'd never liked the chipper way Bobby Bao called him "Laowai".

"Too bad for you, Laowai," Bobby said with a disgusting smirk. "Tong ask for you personally. Might have work for you. Might shoot you in head. Who knows? I just serve drinks. Now, you go downstairs, Laowai, and see Tong."

Adam pushed away from the bar, noting the three Harvesters slowly gravitating toward him. He decided it would be best for him to show himself to Tong's office rather than show up with Tong's Harvester escort. Being proactive always put him in a better bargaining position so he made for Tong's office in the basement and pushed inside, the heavy bass of the Hive's main floor fading to a dull throb. But it wasn't Tong waiting for him in the office. It was Bill Taggart. By the look of him, Hengsha had chewed him up and spat him out. Somewhere along the way, he'd lost his glasses, shaved his head and opted for an outdated sweater vest that stood out like a sore thumb but there was no mistaking those shifty eyes and nasal voice when Taggart rose to meet him. This was Bill Taggart, the one and only. "Mr. Jensen," he said extending a hand to Adam. Adam was half tempted to take it and break it but he ignored the impulse and, eventually, Taggart dropped his arm limply. "I see. Well, at least you're here. That means something."

"Cut the crap, Taggart," Adam snapped. "I didn't fly halfway around the world for small talk. Tell me what you know about White Helix."

Taggart sank back and sat on Tong's desk, his ugly sneakers resting on the chair he'd been sitting on. "All in good time. I need something from you first."

"I can't retract my statement about Humanity Front's involvement in Panchea, if that's what you want."

"The retraction would only get buried anyway," Taggart said with a shifty shrug. "The U.N. wants me to disappear and they'll get what they want, regardless of what you say. That's not why I called you here. I have a task that needs doing that only a man of your…situation…can do."

Adam crossed his arms. "This better not be a waste of my time, Taggart. I'm not going to hack anything or sneak into anywhere for you."

"I wouldn't dream of asking you to do that, not for me."

"Then I'm listening."

Taggart cleared his throat. The effeminate way he did that always made Adam feel a little uneasy, like whatever he was about to say next was going to end very, very badly for him. "I've been offered asylum somewhere in exchange for some of Mr. Darrow's data. I have the data, Mr. Jensen, but once I hand it over, I'll have lost my last bit of bargaining power. I'll have nothing and be of no use to anyone." He leaned forward, the artificial lights glistening on the top of his polished head. "I'm certain they're going to kill me, although I shouldn't be surprised. I don't think any of us expected to leave Panchea alive, not after Darrow activated the chip."

"I'm still waiting for a reason to care, Taggart."

"Because," snapped Taggart. "Once I die, the truth about augmentations will die with me. The voice of reason will die. You and your companies will go on, pretending to be gods, all the while creating idols in the image of the machines that ought to be serving man instead of man serving them. Once I'm gone…Once my ideas, my voice is gone… There will be no one left to stop this madness unless I can ensure that someone else has access to the truth." Taggart lifted a data chip from his pocket and held it out to Adam. "Take it."

"What is it?"

"The truth. Everything I know about your filthy little company, you, your boss, your scientists, White Helix…I want my conscience clean when I go to meet God. Maybe you'll find what you're looking for in there."

Adam hesitated. This had to be a trick, a trap of some kind. "You're just going to give it to me? Without asking for anything in return? And after everything I did and said?"

Taggart sighed and his outstretched arm fell a few inches but he still held the chip out to Adam. "You think you're responsible for my situation? Perhaps. If not for your damning words, I might have gotten my way. The Augmentation industry would see the regulation it so desperately needs and the world would be a better, brighter place. I assure you, however, that the Illuminati would have killed me anyway once I ceased to be of use. All you've managed to do is alter the timing and method of my death. This information is freely given, Mr. Jensen. I think that it will do you some good. Once you see where this path leads, perhaps you'll rethink where you stand on the issue. And when you do, I believe you'll have the power to do something about it in ways I never dreamed were possible."

He thrust the chip at Adam again who hesitantly took it. Adam felt more than a little guilty over what happened to Taggart now. Sure, he had it coming. Sure, the guy was a fanatic lost on his cause but wasn't everyone? Was he really any better than Serif or Darrow or Megan? Was he really any better than Adam himself? Adam stared at the chip, cleared his throat and slipped it into his pocket. "I never asked for this," he reminded Taggart. "To be what I am, to live like this. I didn't have a choice."

"None of us chooses to be born, Mr. Jensen," Taggart said, a far off look in his eyes. "But it is always in our power to choose to live. We choose, each of us, whether or not to embrace life or tiny bits of plastic and metal that imitate life. Those things hooked into your nervous system…They aren't you, not really. The more and more you use them, the more of the beast you awaken. How many will you use, how many upgrades, how many praxis kits will you buy before you realize that, with each and every one of them you install, you're displacing your own soul? For each piece of yourself you surrender, Mr. Jensen, your humanity dies a little more. You think those augmentations make you better than human?" A smirk crawled up on his lips. "You are no better."

Adam left Tong's office and let the door slam shut behind him, knowing full well that Bill Taggart fully intended to take his own life and probably splatter his brains all over Tong's office wall. It was his last attempt at sending a message. When they found the body, he hoped Tong's Harvesters would be all over the news right alongside him, illustrating the worst augmented humanity had to offer. Hengsha's tight association with Tai Yong Medical would probably also be dragged out into the daylight, the city's open attitude toward augmentation questioned. But the average citizen was already over what happened in Panchea and, if these Illuminati knew what was good for them, they'd play this down or else risk having their involvement exposed.

Adam fingered the datachip in his pocket. Adam didn't really care about all that. All he wanted was to put all this behind him, to see the world come to some sort of consensus about how to handle people like him. The world couldn't move on, he couldn't move on, until people stopped hounding him for his DNA. And he couldn't put a stop to that until he was certain he knew why…and that White Helix would never be able to make another copy of him and his abilities. Ever.

The shot rang out just as Adam slid back onto his bar stool. His augmented ears barely picked up the noise above Tong's terrible taste in music, though no one else seemed to notice. Bobby Bao's pale green eyes rolled over him suspiciously as he polished another glass. "You want another Shanghai Gut Punch, Laowai?"

"I feel like celebrating." Adam slipped him twenty five credits and a nice, fat tip. "Better make it a Golden Phoenix Sling."


End file.
